What is volume tobacco and where does it come from?
This expanded tobacco, originally developed for the industrial production of cigarettes, has found its way directly to the consumer through the mass sale of cigarette tubes for cigarette-making with electric cigarette injectors and the boom in home-made cigarettes.
Why is volume tobacco better for cigarette injectors than other types of tobacco and is it also compatible with my fully automatic cigarette injector?
Expanding is the best and most effective way to reduce the tar; and nicotine content of cigarettes. The smoking experience is significantly improved and the burning properties of the tobacco are optimised. Apart from that, the lower density of volume tobacco compared to other types of tobacco leads to a reduction in manufacturing costs, as the amount of tobacco in the tobacco blends of the cigarettes can be reduced.
The reverse is true when buying roll-your-own tobacco. The manufacturing costs of tobacco by expansion (DIET process) are comparatively very high and so the production costs are almost twice as high as for non-expanded tobacco. However, consumers do not feel this price difference at the end of the day, as much less expanded tobacco is needed to make a cigarette with your electric cigarette injector.
How exactly is volume tobacco "expanded"?
The best process for obtaining expanded tobacco is the process known as DIET (Dry Ice Expanded Tobacco). Dry ice is used in the process of "expanding" the tobacco.
Are additives added to the tobacco for this?
No, the DIET process uses the unique thermal and physical properties of carbon dioxide to expand the tobacco. The carbon dioxide is used in a cycle. It can therefore be recovered and reused without leaving any residue in the tobacco. The cut tobacco is immersed in the liquid carbon dioxide under high pressure in a vessel called an impregnator. After a short soaking time, the liquid carbon dioxide is drained into the container and used again. The remaining carbon dioxide gas in the impregnator is recovered by compression and condensation and also returned to the process tank for reuse. When the pressure in the impregnator is reduced to atmospheric pressure, the remaining liquid carbon dioxide in the tobacco cells is converted into dry ice.
How much can the tobacco be expanded by this process?
When the carbon dioxide in the cells of the frozen tobacco is heated, the carbon dioxide sublimates and increases its volume by more than 100,000 times. The resulting internal pressure inflates the tobacco cells, resulting in a volume increase of approximately 100% to 140%.
The end result is a tobacco with much higher filling power, so that a smaller amount of tobacco is needed to completely fill a cigarette tube. By using the expanded tobacco with the best expansion result, a consumer can successfully fill a cigarette tube with less than half a gram of tobacco. If he uses traditional rolling tobacco, he will need up to 1 gram of tobacco to fill the same cigarette tube. In addition to the economic benefits, there is also evidence that expanded tobacco reduces the amount of nicotine the consumer is exposed to and enhances the combustion behaviour of the cigarette.
What do I need to be aware of when making my cigarettes with expanded tobacco with my fully automatic cigarette injection machine?
Do I have to make my cigarettes differently than with classic fine-cut tobacco?
There is no change in the injection technique. As usual, you put the tobacco into the machine, place the tube, press the button or lever and the cigarette is ready. You will only notice that the burning behaviour of your cigarette when you use volume tobacco is very similar to that of an industrially manufactured cigarette.
Do you still lose embers when smoking a cigarette stuffed with volume tobacco?
The moisture of the tobacco and a gentle processing are decisive for the avoidance of falling embers. With our patented sliding mechanism, breaking off strands of tobacco and dropping embers while smoking is a thing of the past.